Microsoft kills Word Flow keyboard for iOS in favor of SwiftKey

Microsoft has killed its experimental digital keyboard app Word Flow. SwiftKey is now the only recommended keyboard for Android and iOS.

Word Flow, which debuted in 2016, was created by Microsoft’s Garage research team to make it easier to enter text on iPhones and iPads, including a mode that let people write messages using only one hand.

“The Word Flow experiment is now complete! We encourage you to download the SwiftKey Keyboard from the App Store. The SwiftKey product team is frequently building and evaluating new features for SwiftKey and shipping updates,” Microsoft said in an updated product description for Word Flow on Monday that was spotted by tech news site WindowsCentral.

Microsoft’s SwiftKey keyboard competes against Google’s Gboard keyboard and a slew of other Android and iOS keyboards. Apple’s App Store doesn’t show download numbers, but SwiftKey has over 100 million downloads, while Gboard has passed 500 million. SwitfKey’s Android app debuted in 2010, followed by the release of the iOS app in 2014.